Hospitals want cops to pay tab for uninsured suspects

When a San Diego police sergeant shot a man he said pulled a fake gun on him in a dark parking lot, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla ended up paying for all of the suspect’s medical care.

Scripps CEO Chris Van Gorter said the cost of emergency services to treat a gunshot wound can cost as much as $300,000 — an expense hospitals have to absorb if a person is uninsured.

In this case, Robert McBride Jr., 22, was shot Jan. 26 by Sgt. Robert Wills in a CVS Pharmacy parking lot in Mira Mesa. He was taken to Scripps but not arrested until after he signed himself out of the hospital last Thursday.

Police Officer David Stafford said that night no arrest had been made because the city would have been responsible for McBride’s medical bills.

But David Ramirez, executive assistant police chief in San Diego, said Monday that money never was — and never has been — a factor in deciding when police should arrest a person who needs medical attention.

“The bottom line is that it’s a case-by-case basis,” Ramirez said. “We look at the seriousness of the injury or illness and the seriousness of the crime. We don’t sit there and ask how much money this is going to cost.”

County sheriff’s Lt. Dave Brown said not everyone taken to the hospital in police custody will end up being arrested.

“I don’t like making an arrest the same day if we can’t find out the whole story,” Brown said. “Investigations are not instantaneous, and you may not even have enough information to arrest (someone).”

Law enforcement and hospitals do not track how many patients arrive in handcuffs and don’t get arrested until after they’re released.

But Steven Escoboza, CEO of the region’s hospital association, said McBride’s case is not isolated.

“Frankly, it happens too often,” Escoboza said.

About three hours after McBride left the hospital, police arrested him on suspicion of grand theft and burglary.

San Diego police thought they would be notified when he was released from the hospital, Ramirez said.

Escoboza said hospitals and health-care providers across the state are trying to craft legislation that would require people in custody be guarded, and that their medical bills be paid by the government entity holding them if they are uninsured.